Little Dream Catchers (2016)

This portrait introduces audiences to White Earth Nation in Minnesota. Preschoolers learn school readiness while engaging in tribal rituals, such as pow-wows, to prepare for kindergarten with a sense of identity. Former Tribal Chairwoman Erma Vizenor, herself an educator with graduate degrees, sums up the mission of White Earth early education as "a lifetime of choices instead of a lifetime of circumstances." She notes, "Education is our ticket out of poverty here; it was my ticket."